Mumbai Mentality

I write this as a tribute to one of the world’s great cities – Mumbai. A city that I became very attached to in a very short period of time and right now I can not think of anything else. As I came into work this morning and looked at daily headlines a look of horror and sadness came on my face as I saw the striking headlines about the ‘terror in mumbai’. Now, I’m not one of the 20 million mumbaikers (I think that’s what they’re called). I’m not here to write as if I understand what happened on the streets, or what a Mumbai resident in one of those chawls feels. I’m writing this as a Canadian-Indian who just 3 weeks ago spent 4-5 days in Mumbai and was totally smitten with the city. My heart goes out to those who were there, those who have lost, and those who have suffered. As I read about the places where each of the attacks took place I couldn’t help but think – I visited so many of those not long ago. To me, in my mind when I picture the taj hotel I picture a majestic Victorian building on the waterfront only dominated by the nearby gateway of India. Not a sea of terror and flames where bombs are exploding and crazy cowards are gunning down innocent people.

Some random group has come to claim responsibility for the attack. They’re a muslim-based group and to learn that only makes me sad. It is yet another chapter in the never-ending conflict between hindus and muslims. A conflict I will never understand. Mumbai is no stranger to this though. In the last decade of the 20th century the streets were rocked with hindu/muslim riots, and just in 2006 there were coordinated attacks on the city’s train system. But why Mumbai? Why always Mumbai? Of the major cities in India I think its easy to say that Mumbai has seen more than its share of violence (at least in recent years) – even more so than Delhi and Delhi is the capital! (not that I want anything to happen to Delhi). But it seems like there’s a never-ending battle for this city’s soul that comes down to the street. I wrote about the free-spirit that seems to come from the streets. To borrow a phrase from Montreal - it’s a laissez-faire mentality, but laissez-faire with a purpose. After all, besides the political capital, it’s the capital of India in every other sense and yet the people there seem at ease. Perhaps by targeting this free spirited city that caters to all and has so much potential, criminals think or hope they can break that spirit because wouldn’t that be the biggest crime of all. I think it would. It saddens me to think about what measures will be taken after this to secure the city. Unfortunately a bit of the free spirit may already have been lost.

Now here’s where I can’t speak as a Mumbai resident, but only from what I’ve seen. Mumbai is resilient and it will persist. The city is flooded every year from monsoon rains, and every year the residents persist. There are 20 million people in that city and I can’t imagine it any different from what I saw and my gut tells me that it won’t be (ok, maybe a little, but not for long). Like I said, this is not new to Mumbai, and as much as I hope this is the last time blood is spilled on its streets like this, I am not that naive. But I can only wonder, when will it end? When/where does it stop? Will hindu’s and muslim’s ever learn to co-exist peacefully across all areas of the world? Who knows, in my lifetime I would love to see that. For now, from what I saw, I am confident about one thing. Mumbai is a bright light. You can dampen it, maybe for a day, maybe for a week, maybe for months or even a year. But you can’t break it. No matter who, or how hard you try, you can not break it. It will always shine.